THE MAN IN THE GRAY STRIPED SUIT SAYS HAPPY NEW YEAR

Earlier this week I had post up "Anyone want to go fishing" looking to hit the
beach one last time and bring in the New Year. My usual fishing partners could not make it
out and fishing by yourself just isn't any fun. I figured i'd make a desprate reach to the
sharking community to see if I could drag anyone out to take one last shot before I had to
return to work.

Wednesday morning i got a call from "Sharkin Sonny" to find out what I had in mind. We made
some tentative plans and based upon a few conditions we woul try to make the trip down
to Pensacola to bring in the New Year. We knew it would be cold and windy it was just a
matter of if we wanted to bare the nighttime chills with temps projected to be down into
30's and high in the 60's.

Thursday after pretty much writing off any last minute trips Sonny called back. He mentioned
something about the talking to the Shark Gods, Mother Nature and talked about lunar cycles.
All i heard was, IT WAS ON!!! We planned to drive down that evening and meet up Friday
morning. Sonny's regular fishing partner Bill "Firedawg", both members of TEAM REAL FAKE
had a hotspot and said he was going put us on the fish. How can you go wrong!! Bill has had
ALOT of success fishing the same spot. Having mutiple hookups going at once, it was on FIRE!!
I had to talk Sonny out of making me drive blindfolded to the spot, it was just to dangerous!!

Hot acton and secret spots!! Does it get any better than that?

We arrived down in Pensacola a little after midnight, Sonny ran to pick up some bait from
Bill that was recently caught. We met at "The Spot". Mother nature greeted us with a strong
south wind, extremly surf conditions and a chilling temperature below 50 degrees. We
decided to catch some shut eye and wake up early and set up to get baits out.

DAY 1 Friday 12/30/11

Woke up to Sonny knocking on my window, telling me that sleeping is for girls and to get my
gear and drag it to the beach.

Day One Conditions - South west winds 10-15mph
Surf - OMG
Temp - 50's in the warming to high 60's during the day

With all the gear unloaded rods set in their holders Sonny ran out his 1st bait, Bonita
into the rough conditions. I quietly sat and tried to think of reasons why I couldnt run
out my baits. See on the KayaK ability chart of 1 to 10, I'd some in at negative 5, Below
novice. Today all that have to change if i planned on getting any baits out. Plus i couldnt
look like a ninny, at least not to much infront of Sonny.

I rigged up some fresh Bonita that we had got from Bill on a Shark Oulet Leader, Finest
money can buy and planned to run it out.

Then i stood and studied the surf for awhile....

and awhile

and awhile... no one was counting the time, except Sonny. :-O

I wanted to kayak, I just lacked the confidance. Recently I a kayak accident that had me
in the hospital anda leg brace for a 3-4 days. The surf I was looking at was 2-4Ft, at
least to Sonny, to me they were at least 10 footers.
Long story short I made it out dropped my bait and made it back to the 1st bar before
whiping and having to swim back to shore. This happened every time I ran a bait out on
Friday... But I was learning and did manage one successful bait run and returned safley
with the kayak upright.

We had a few short runs but no takers until Sonny's 12/0 started singing!!! Sonny wanted Andrea
to catch the 1st shark, she was hooked up

http://www.youtube.com/v/6kWVYcSk_8U

Unfortuantly the hook pulled......

We had a break in the action about this time, I went to the store and we had a vist from
Troy, Doc and family!! Asked if we needed anything and went to try some sharking down the
a ways. Told us if we caught a monster to call him and he would come down to help.

Unfortunalty the shark made its way free before long and Sonny yacked his bait back out. In
the late evening I caught a 17inch pomp, we had to make a decision to eat it or use it for
bait. In the end we did what any rational person would do.... SHARK BAIT!!!

Bill came down after work to say hello and bring us some more bait, A Huge Black Drum.
As we were starting to prepare dinner as it was approaching 5:30 and then it happened. I
heard the sweet singing sounds of the Fin-Nor sportfisher. We jumped up and made our way
over. FISH ON!!!

Bait- Bonita

Bill gave us a hand with the Shark and brought us some good luck and provided us with
more direction. Shortly after Bill left we cooked up some steaks with a side of patato
salad, YUM!! That topped off the 1st day. Honestly I was happy to see it come to an end
cause the next day the surf was suppose to be much calmer!!

DAY 2 Saturday 12/31/11

Day Two Conditions - South winds 5-10 mph LOTS OF FOG
Surf - Not to Bad
Temp - 50's in the warming to high 60's during the day

I had studied the wind conitions all night and figured that it should be a good bit calmer
on Saturday. I figured I'd go grab some breakfast for the camp, ice and other things.
When i got back Sonny was relling in his 12/0 and on the other end was out 1st shark
of the day, another 6ft Sandbar!!

Surf was much calmer today, my wife was planning on driving down to meet us so it worked
out well since she didnt see me wipe everytime i ran out a bait!! I ran two baits
skate and bonita. Sonny ran out bonita and a big drum that Bill has brought him. THanks
again Bill for the bait.

The surf really beat me up the day before, hit in the head a few times, having a bum leg.
I'm not sure how Sonny felt but I had a pretty good idea. If you know Sonny, who doesn't,
he likes to make friends.

Sonny met Bo early in the morning. He was very interested in all the gear that was obesley
for big game. He seemed like a nice guy so Sonny started showing him the ropes but did
not want to run baits for him----He took a shot and asked him if he knew how to yak and
hit yaking gold---Bo said he would run all the baits and a new freindship was made!!

Bo quickly ran out baits for Bobby then i set him up with my 9. Wanting Bo to have the
full experience Sonny asked if Bo would run the 9/0 out into the 2nd bar. Sonny has
about 5 or 600 yds of 80lb mono on this reel and asked Bo if going past the 2nd sand
bar was too far. His response was it a piece of cake, our kind of yaker. Sonny asked him
to start paddleing and he would whisle when its was time to drop the bait. In short order
he was a little spot on the ocean and Sonny whistled. There was only a hundred yds of
mono left on the spool!!!

Sonny told Bo if it got hit we could not play around we did have much line left on the spool.

I went back out to the store grabbed some sausage to cook for lunch and thing to make dinner.
I ran into Troy on the way back and he hooked us up with some more Bonita, thanks again!!
I got to cooking and just as the sausage was ready we hear the sound of a Penn Reel....

Beginners luck or good mojo or maybe the sharkin god answering, the nine goes off.
We strap Bo in and its on, Sonny gave the star a big turn and told Bo get to work he only
had to reel in 450 or so yds of line. Bo starts reeling in with all the fight and vigor of a
young stout sharker. He started out like gang busters and after a couple of hundred yards
he starts slowing down a little bit and Sonny yell's at him "what's the problem - what's
taking so long" with a smile on his face. Bo gets that look on his face and starts reeling
for all he's worth his arm was turning into jello - at this point I showed how to pump the reel
and in short order he had beached his first 6' plus sandbar. I think the smile on his face in
the pictures tells it all.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0uqSqzL90oY&context=C31b0515ADOEgsToPDskJX48zB3DyeHen3FLYaGdEw

Bo and his Mom

Partners in Crime

Serious Business

Bait- Bonita

It's great to show new people the sharking game and is very satisfying when you see how
much they appreciate it. Bo was very appreciative and asked if he could become a part
of Sonny's TEAM REEL FAKE--guys thATS HOW YOU MAKE NEW FREINDS AND SHARKIN

After eating we got our evening baits ready and i grabbed my 12/0, which is FOR SALE,
please check the classifieds . We got to spend most of the day with Bo, who is very
intrested in shark fishing, great young man.

He yacked out my Tuna Head

Bo yaked out one of Sonny's secret baits, when Bo dropped it he noticed that the bait fell
off the hook. So what did he do?

He jumped out the kayak, grabbed the bait of the Gulf floor attached and attached it back to
the hook. WHAT!!

Sonny's Secret Bait

Bo you can fish with Sonny or I anytime!!!!! Serious. Unfortuatly Bo had to cut his trip
a bit short and we parted ways around 5pm. I'm sure he now has a memmory that will last him
a lifetime.

My wife arrived around 4pm and she settled into camp this would be her 1st nite sharking
ever!! I was worried cause it had been very foggy and knew the dew was going to be a killer.
Was concerned that her 1st nite would be her last .

About 5pm we started to prepare dinner Chicken Fijitas!!! Just as I started to cut into
the chicken I hear the familiar sound of the Fin-Nor. It wasnt a very strong run and we
quickly had him to the beach.

TIGER
My 1st ever..

We went back to the camp and started back on our cooking and it wasnt long before I heard
the other Fin-Nor..... Fish On I handed the rod to my wife.

Happy Fisher Woman

Bait- Skate

Then we went back to enjoy our fajitas.

Sonny had run on his 9/0 feeling like there was a small shark on the end we reeled it in
more as a precaution. We didnt want to reel in a dead shark in the AM.

Dew Dew Dew, finally cleared up shortly before midnight.

Happy New Year

DAY 3 Sunday 1/1/12

Day Three Conditions - South east winds 5-10 mph (Beautiful day)
Surf - Not to Bad
Temp - In the 60's projected to be in the 40's at nightime

Woke up entergized with the success we had the night before, surf was pretty calm. I
ran out a Bontia and a Sheephead on my rods. Bill had stopped by for a while and I ran
out a Skate for Sonny on his 9/0. Action was slow all morning.

I took my wife to catch some bait fish at another location that would eventually become
dinner later that night. We got back at the beach and Sonny wanted to take a ride
with his wife down around the Pensacola area. This would leave me and my wife to attend
to the rods.

Sonny had not been gone 10 minutes and my Fin-Nor starts begging for mercy!!!! My wife and
I run over I pick it up and decide to let it run for a minute before tightening the drag.
in anticipation I start to put pressure on the fish, however there was no quit in this
fish. We have do to manouver between the rods and down the beach we went. I asked my wife
to call Sonny cause This could be THE FISH!!!

Before I knew it about 400 yards of my line was out in the water, I was down to about 1/4
spool and i slowly started dragging something very heavy back towards me. I got it back to
about 1/2 spool when Sonny got back. By this time we were about 100 yards down the beach,
crowd was starting to gather and it was a stale mate. I had a American rodsmith surf rod
attached to the Fin-Nor that has about 28lbs of drag. Loaded with 100lb braid, however i
had only a 50lb topshot. I didn't want to put to much pressure and risk losing what
could be a fish of a life time. I passed to rod to Sonny to ask him what he thought.

He looked back with a somewhat paniced face and said "Call Troy". He passed the rod back to
me. We were about 30 minutes into the fight at this time. I would gain 50, yards then he
would pull back 50. Gain 100, pull 100. By this time my arms and back were starting
to feel the impact of having a large fish on the other end of the line. We started to
make some progress on landing the fish.

I passed the rod to my wife so she could feel the fish

What could it be? Shark we were pretty certian, it had taken the Bonita. This rod easly handles
a 6-7 ft shark without much of an effort. However this felt like no 6 or 7 footer. Had to be
aleast 8ft or MORE, What grows that big.... Tiger, huge bull, maybe a hammer? was the water
to cold for a monster lemon? OR was it just a pissed 3fter?

Finally i got him over the 1st bar and into the wade gut, it was a shark for sure. Slowly we moved
him closer into the surf and we were able to leader the fish. Sonny reached out and grabbed the
green leader that I had ordered from the Shark Outlet . And what a fine leader it is.
I hand the pole off and go see my prize..

Sonny waiting to see the leader:

A foul hooked 7ft 5inch Spinner, hooked in the side fin.

Bait- Bonita

Exhausted from the fight, little depressed at the fish made he really think about what a true
monster would feel like...

Troy and Doc showed up just a minute to late to catch the release. We shared a few stories
and got back to business. I ran out another piece of Bonita and we prepared for the night.

Sonny has this thing about the sharkin gods and signs from the heavens and in the late afternoon the clouds showed sonny the sign he was looking for and he predicted grey stripes and great sharkin at sun down

Sonny's Sign:
http://www.youtube.com/v/NK5hIRyRfhg

A little Crown can make you see anything you want

We prepared for dinner, leftover fajitas and fresh fish. I cooked the and deheaded the fish earlier
in the day. Sonny and Andrea provided some butter, onions and I had some seasoning.

All I can say is.... yum!!

"Social Sonny" made us some new friends, John Collins from Biloxi Mississippi. John was down
to take place in a polar bear plunge taking place on the caost that weekend. Curious he and
his wife sayed with us for a while. Turns out that John's son and my step son go to school
together in Mississippi. World is a small place. John also races kayaks competitavely. We hope
to make a trip together in the future with our boys, John said he can get us all the stingrays
we need

Just after 8pm Sonny's 9/0 takes off and he hands the rod to John. He made quick work of it and
we soon had another Sandbar on the sand!!

Bait- Skate

Just as we sat down we heard the one of the Fin-Nors taking off we passed the rod to Mistie and
just as she got comfortable the shark spit the hook

Not 20 minutes later my other Fin-Nor started clicking slowly, then stop. Then Click. Then Stop.
This went on for about 10 minutes and finally the shark decided that it liked what was on the hook
Mistie too this one like a pro.

Misties' 1st Tiger and 2nd of the Trip!!!

http://www.youtube.com/v/4Wx4znDSxgg

Tiger Paws

Bait- Sheephead

It soon turned cold and windy, North winds 20-25mph gusts, we prepared the beach for a windy night.

DAY 4 Monday 1/2/12

Day Three Conditions - North winds 20-25mph plus gusts
Surf - FLAT
Temp - F'in Cold

We packed up and left. To cold to be in the wind.

Wow. that was a long write and a long read!! hope you enjoyed!!

Thanks to Bill for the Bait and spot
Thanks to Troy for the bait and big fish support
Thanks to Sonny for making this possiable by driving down to meet me.

Great trip, Great friends, Great food and SHARKS ON THE SAND!!